What a weekend!

I had quite the weekend....I'm not sure if I will be able to write all in one blog so stay tuned because this weekend was ridiculously fun. Between the whaling, the tundra tour, the pics, and just the random natives I hung out with, my cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing. It is really starting to warm up and melt up here in Barrow so my outdoor "Rocky" runs are not as hard core as the first week....and by "warm up' i mean it is 20 degrees instead of negative. So, technically, I am still awesome. After a long first week in the clinic seeing patients and then a good run Friday night, i wanted to rest up for the tundra tour on Saturday. The tour is given by a native from the Top of the World Hotel. People from all over pay to fly in just for a day in Barrow to take this tour. One Australian couple flew from Perth to Detroit.....then took a train through Canada to Anchorage....then flew to Barrow for this tour. Needless to say, they were pretty happy to see some new faces. The wife fell on some ice the first time we stopped to take pics and, while it was sad that she came so far only to spend the whole tour in the car, it was some of the best physical comedy I have seen lately. Her husband and I traded off taking ridiculous pics our ourselves at various locations...he took funny pictures so his kids would think he was cool. i took funny pictures because i am a moron. At one point, I ran about 50 yards out onto the frozen tundra and did a headstand in about 3 feet of snow....my hair is wet in the rest of the pics. when i say I am a moron, i mean i am a total moron, but it was fun. The tour included going to three cemeteries, the science museum, Arctic Ocean, watching some native dancers (which was intense).....Never have i ever been chosen out of the audience to participate and not for a lack of effort. I threw part of my chicken at the knight at Medieval Times during a bday party so he would pick me....didn't happen. Well, i was chosen to dance with the natives at the end of their performance and, if I had to say so myself, I was pretty awesome. The Australian man took some video of it and he promised to send it to me. I may or may not post that footage depending on how "awesome" i look.
At the end of the tour, I asked to tour guide to drop me off on the beach so I could walk back. on my way back, I ran into the captain from the whaling crew that caught a whale last week. (see pics below). After convincing him that i was not PETA or peace corps, he let me take some pics. I posed with the whale teeth (bigger and taller than me)...I figured those pics will look great in my office one day. After chatting with them for awhile, I think I won them over so they let me get my hands dirty and cut some of the muktuk (blubber and whale meat). It smells horrible and I do not think I will ever get the smell out of my boots, but it was totally worth it. The guys were cracking up because I was so inefficient and messy when trying to cut it. They have it down to a science....after cutting for a few minutes, I managed to have muktuk all of my boots and in my hair. They said they would raise the flag on their house later this week so I could come over to eat some. It is a whole different world up here and I am loving it! Not sure what to do about my boots, but maybe the smell will go away.
Side note: another whaling crew caught a whale this morning around 5 am, so when we got to the dental office this morning, all patients except for a few, had cancelled because they were going to celebrate the whale. I'm pretty sure one of my crazy patients in dental school told me that but I did not believe them. in this case, I think it is true though.
More stories to come from this weekend, but I am going to get some lunch.......